In a Monday legislative session, Italian central banker Piero Cipollone supported the idea of a digital euro as he sought approval to succeed Fabio Panetta as head of the European Central Bank (ECB)’s (CBDC).When Panetta leaves the central bank’s executive board in November, Cipollone, who has served as the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy since 2020, is the only contender.The comments Cipollone made on Monday suggest he won’t veer far from the current ECB digital currency policies.
He assured members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament that a digital euro would “reinforce the ability to pay with public money throughout Europe with a technology and infrastructure that is based in Europe,” promising offline functionality, accessibility, and “excellent solutions” to safeguard privacy.
Cipollone’s eight-year term has already been accepted by the ECB and the eurozone’s finance ministers, making his appointment to the post all but guaranteed. In a non-binding vote taken soon after the debate, lawmakers supported his candidacy 30-3.Despite strong skepticism from lawmakers over the advantages of the idea for regular consumers, Panetta has previously denounced private cryptocurrency as a greed-driven Ponzi scheme and spearheaded ECB work on a digital euro.
In response to a previous written questioning from MPs, Cipollone claimed that blockchain developments carry “significant risks,” but that these risks may be mitigated by taking steps such as placing holding limitations on citizens. A group of cross-party EU legislators recently asked the ECB to hold off on making any decisions about a retail CBDC until they can come to an agreement on legislative restrictions in contentious areas like privacy.